Joyce Elaine Rockenbach Bell (born ) is an American nursing teacher and entomologist. She worked on

insect taxonomy Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, ...

at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

, together with her husband

Ross Bell Ross Taylor Bell (April 23, 1929 – November 9, 2019) was an American entomologist with particular interest in the invertebrate natural history of Vermont, United States, and Ground beetle, carabid beetles. Together with his wife, Joyce Rockenb ...

(1929–2019). The pair described more than 75% of the rhysodine species known to science.

Life

Joyce Elaine Rockenbach grew up in

Whitestone, Queens Whitestone is a residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood proper is located between the East River to the north; College Point and Whitestone Expressway to the west; Flushing a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Her grandfather apparently told her that "a woman can teach or be a nurse". She gained a B.S. at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

and spent eight years as a research assistant at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons before coming to the

to do a Master's. She taught in the UVM School of Nursing for ten years. In 1957 Joyce Rochenbach married the University of Vermont entomologist Ross Bell. They increasingly collaborated on entomological taxonomy, with Joyce specializing in

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical mic ...

and

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

. In the 1960s the pair began an active program to document the arthropod fauna of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. Their work built the UVM Entomological Collection into a significant resource for Northern New England. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ross and Joyce extended the boundaries for their entomological work beyond Vermont, stretching as far as

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. The pair continued to study entomology after retiring from the University of Vermont. In 2019 Ross Bell died in

Shelburne, Vermont Shelburne is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Located along the shores of Lake Champlain, Shelburne's town center lies approximately south of the city center of Burlington, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermon ...

Recognition

An issue of ''

ZooKeys ''ZooKeys'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. It was established in 2008 and the founding editor-in-chief was Terry Erwin (Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian ...

'' was published as a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for Ross and Joyce Bell, following a meeting of coleopterists held in celebration of their work and of Ross's 80th birthday. The Coleopterists Society offers an annual Ross Taylor Bell and Joyce Rockenbach Bell Research Grant for "an outstanding proposal for beetle research whose work would otherwise not be funded", favouring taxonomy or systematics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Joyce Elaine Rockenbach 1920s births Living people Scientists from Vermont Nurses from New York (state) American nursing educators Coleopterists University of Vermont faculty Queens College, City University of New York alumni American women entomologists American women nurses Scientists from Queens, New York People from Whitestone, Queens 20th-century American zoologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American zoologists 21st-century American women scientists

Life

Recognition

See also

References